There’s some bittersweet news coming in over at NBC, and it goes a little something like this — Blindspothas been renewed, but unfortunately, season 5 will be the show’s last.

While it is easy to respond to this with feelings of extreme sadness, the principal thing to remember here is simply this — NBC could’ve easily gone the other way with this decision. This is not a show delivering big ratings, and it hasn’t been one for a long time. It’s also a show that is owned by an outside studio, which means mostly that the network doesn’t make as much money broadcasting it as they do a number of other series that they have. We’ve honestly wondered for a while how Blindspot has even been able to afford much of what they do, which includes trips to other countries and intense action sequence. Clearly, they have one of the smartest accounting crews out there.

One other thing that is fascinating about this renewal at present is the fact that Blindspot was actually pulled off of the schedule for May sweeps, meaning that it will return with some new episodes when we get around to May 24. That’s a long time to wait, and it suggested at the time of the move that they didn’t have any real interest in keeping the show around. what saved it? Warner Bros. TV (said outside studio) likely recognizes its value in terms of its performance on streaming outlets — and, beyond that, it also has great international marketability. Star Jaimie Alexander is a known name, especially with her connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

According to TVLine, we’re likely looking at a final season of 13 episodes or less, though no precise episode count has been confirmed. We have a hard time imagine personally it being less than ten; our feeling is that NBC may use Blindspot on Fridays in the fall similar to how they did Midnight, Texas this past fall, and the use its timeslot in the winter/spring in order to launch something new. We’re hoping personally that The Blacklist airs over the course of a full year, and we’re not getting a situation where that show ends up being shoved into a really small period of time again. (Some of these formal decisions are going to be made at the network’s upfront presentation, which will be happening next week.)